According to the Mayo Clinic, peanut allergies are one of the more common food allergies, especially in children. Symptoms for people with the condition who are exposed to peanuts range from mild irritation to death by anaphylaxis shock. Some people with the allergy cannot tolerate even the tiniest amount of peanuts, even particles that can be breathed in. People with the condition are in constant peril of their lives. However, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on Wednesday that a group of Australian researchers may have found a cure for peanut allergies.
Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne gathered a group of 60 children, ages one to 10, suffering from peanut allergies and gave them either a course of treatment or a placebo. 80 percent of the children given the treatment were found to be able to tolerate peanuts in safety as compared to four percent of those given the placebo. The results have profound implications for people suffering from food allergies.
The treatment consisted of a course of oral immunotherapy with a probiotic, a type of bacteria that is designed to redress the balance of flora in the digestive system. The children were also given increasing amounts of peanuts over an 18 month period. The children who now can tolerate peanuts are consuming them as part of their daily diet.
The next step will be to have the children stop eating peanuts for eight weeks. Then they will be tested again to see in their peanut tolerance remains. If that is the case, the permanent cure for peanut allergies will likely have been found, much to the relief of those with the condition who live in fear of accidental ingestion of a food that could kill them.
